Emperor He of Han

Also known as Liu Zhao

Liu Zhao, Emperor He of Han, was a son of Emperor Zhang; his mother, Consort Liang, was destroyed by Empress Dou, who raised him as her own. He succeeded at ten in 88, with the empress dowager acting as regent and her brother Dou Xian running the government. In 89 Dou Xian routed the northern Xiongnu and had Ban Gu compose an inscription carved on Mount Yanran. In 92 the emperor and the eunuch Zheng Zhong arrested the Dou faction, and Dou Xian, sent to his fief, killed himself; Zheng Zhong was later made a marquis for it. During the Yongyuan and Yuanxing eras Ban Chao became Protector-General of the Western Regions in 91 and sent Gan Ying toward Da Qin in 97, and in 105 Cai Lun presented his improved method of making paper. The emperor died in the winter of that year, aged twenty-seven by traditional count, and was named Xiaohe with the temple name Muzong, which the court withdrew in 190.